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Eliminating lube on the boolets base in LAM 2?

I have a 1968 NRA Handloader's Guide which on page 111 discusses using a lathe to create a countersunk depression in the sizing die's plunger to capture lube pushed under the boolet. A hole can then be drilled the length of the plunger to bleed this excess off. Attached are pictures of the countersunk plunger from the Guide.

That's a solution for a problem that you shouldn't have. Lube on the bases is caused by a few things, possibly in conjunction w/ each other. To much pressure, to much heat and bullet misalignment are the cause of it. Typically it's to much pressure and/or heat if you're using a heater. Get these two adjusted properly and you won't have lube on the bases.

For 58 years it has been a standard practice to drag a bullet across a pad to clean base of bullets before seating them on cast bullets. And before the oh my crowd jumps in I do that even on bullets that looks great. Just a habit from my youth .

For 58 years it has been a standard practice to drag a bullet across a pad to clean base of bullets before seating them on cast bullets. And before the oh my crowd jumps in I do that even on bullets that looks great. Just a habit from my youth .

Thank you Preacher Jim, I have been doing that since I started casting in about 1961. I often wonder why there is so much complaining about things when the solution is so simple.

HP9MM
I have done this on several of my dies for the Lyman 450. It works very well. You don't get lube all over the press or anyplace else. It's nice when lubing bullets with little sizing contact to the die. In that case lube under pressure will easily get under the bullet base and push up the bullet . Now that's a mess. Works for me and has for 40 years.
n.h.schmidt

Thats a crappy solution wich will mess up the press with lube extruding all over the place.
And you'll end up with bullets that has a lubed base, that will mess with powder!

If possible adjust the down stroke so it indexes the bullet/bottom piston between holes. That way no lube will be forced between the two.

If not possible, substitute the rachet with a ring spanner and apply/release lube pressure before the bullet is extracted.

Both has eliminated excess lube seeping for me.

Originally Posted by dragon813gt

That's a solution for a problem that you shouldn't have. Lube on the bases is caused by a few things, possibly in conjunction w/ each other. To much pressure, to much heat and bullet misalignment are the cause of it. Typically it's to much pressure and/or heat if you're using a heater. Get these two adjusted properly and you won't have lube on the bases.

Originally Posted by Preacher Jim

For 58 years it has been a standard practice to drag a bullet across a pad to clean base of bullets before seating them on cast bullets. And before the oh my crowd jumps in I do that even on bullets that looks great. Just a habit from my youth .

The simple solutions, such as those above, are the best. Learning how to properly adjust your equipment will eliminate 99 and 44/100ths % of the "problems" folks have. If drilling a hole through the plunger of a sizing die was the legitimate "cure all and fix all" solution for eliminating lube from the bases of bullets, it would have become a manufacturing practice by now. After all, the lubricator/sizing press, in one form or another, has only been on the market for something over 115 years.

If those die pins are the same as mine the tooling better be carbide as they are pretty hard steel. Some of these writers and experimenters come up with the idea and then farm the work out but never hear all the details from the person who did the work. Center drill and relief may help with keeping lube of the base but I would also be concerned with distorted bases as the lower surface area has the force being applied so a much Higher PSI level on the outside ring of the base.

I have drilled several of these pins for the dies. They are only soft steel. They were also slightly dished as made so only the outer edge touched the bullet base. If you are lubing bullets that don't need any sizing and have little friction in the die .The lube under any kind of pressure will get under the bullet base and push the bullet up. This may be a bigger problem with the older Lyman dies as they have lots of overlapping holes in them.
n.h.schmidt

If you release the pressure on the press handle a little with high pressure on the lube screw you will avoid forcing lube under the bullets.
Cutting a shallow dish in the top of the pin and drilling a hole through it will vent off the lube lube but you will have a lot less lube to vent off if you master the pressure on the bullet and reduce the pressure on the lube pressure screw.

Originally Posted by HP9MM

I have a 1968 NRA Handloader's Guide which on page 111 discusses using a lathe to create a countersunk depression in the sizing die's plunger to capture lube pushed under the boolet. A hole can then be drilled the length of the plunger to bleed this excess off. Attached are pictures of the countersunk plunger from the Guide.

I could be dead wrong on this, but I have always assumed that the primary two reasons for lube under the boolit was too much pressure on the lube cylinder, or too much slop between the pin and the die from poor machining by the die maker. The latter is my experience, because I do not use excessive pressure when lubing.

Socialism is a philosophy of failure,
the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy,
its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery."
-- Winston Churchill

Usually too much pressure and/or temperature is the cause of this. You should be able to adjust the die, pressure and temp to all but avoid this. I also wipe the bullet base on an old rag when I am loading.